AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Will’s response came back almost immediately: Just say the word, Andie.
I didn’t. But the next day, I sent the RSVP to my aunt and said that I would come alone.
Chapter 16
Oak leaves rustled as I crossed my aunt and uncle’s rolling green lawn. I’d expected a repeat of the garden party last June, nearly a year ago, but the noise and laughter came from a huge tent, lit with lanterns. A much bigger crowd surged inside.
Adjusting my black satin strapless dress, I smoothed it over my hips and took a minute to touch up my lipstick. I’d pinned up my hair, and my high heels sank into the grass.
James and I had broken up two weeks ago. You just don’t seem that into this, Andie. I’d thought about bringing Meg or Emily with me tonight. Meg would have soaked up the clothes and dazzle, and Emily would have appreciated the free food. But in the end, I came alone.
The whole party seemed to sparkle with champagne droplets, fizzing and arcing over the laughing crowd. A glittering dot detached itself from the people milling inside the tent and walked purposefully toward me.
“So glad you came,” Aunt Rose gushed. Still beautiful, maybe even more so than last summer. Once I’d noticed the resemblance between us, I couldn’t help looking for it every time I saw her. The teardrop-shaped eyes, the almost-hidden spattering of freckles, the delicate frame wrapped in a shimmering cocktail dress. The shining blonde waves that used to be as red as mine. “Will is going to be thrilled. He’s moving to the city next week, you know. We have a gorgeous place all set up for him. He’s right over there. Go.”
A sharp nudge on my arm toward the center of the tent, and she was off, talking animatedly to the next group walking in.
Will stood in the middle of the swirling crowd, dressed in a tux, holding a glass of champagne. From the edge of the tent, I eyed him. My cousin had the same beautiful face I’d stared at during that garden party when I first arrived: same unsettling green eyes, wavy brown hair, full lips and defined jaw. Same sparkling smile, with two differences: there were violet shadows under his eyes now, and he never, not once, looked bored. No matter what, that smile didn’t falter.
And a girl was glued to his side.
Madeleine Platt was beautiful, even prettier in person than her picture. Blonde-streaked hair hung down her back, thick enough to weave into rope. Flawless skin highlighted the wide planes of her face. She was tall and leggy, and her snow-white smile gave Will’s grin a run for its money.
I pushed through the crowd, making my way toward my cousin. A few feet away, he caught sight of me. Green eyes widened and blinked a few times. His smile vanished.
“Andie,” he mouthed.
But by the time I reached him, the golden face was back in place.
“Hi, cousin,” he said smoothly, giving my hand a quick squeeze and leaning down to kiss my cheek. The whisper of Will’s breath, his soft lips against my skin, suddenly rocked me where I stood, and I squeezed my toes inside my high-heeled pumps. Maybe I shouldn’t have come, but I’d needed to.
“Congratulations.” My hand was still in his. Everything in my body told me to hold on. Carefully, I freed my fingers. “I know you worked hard for this.”
His eyes flickered. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
“Your parents invited me.” I’d said those words a year ago, when Will asked why I was here for the summer.
“Oh, you were invited?” The girl next to him laughed and turned to Will. “Baby, you didn’t tell me you had cousins. Or any family at all. I thought there was just you.”
“Andie, this is Maddie.” Will made smooth introductions. “Maddie, this is my cousin Andie. She lived with us last summer.”
“I’m Will’s girlfriend,” Maddie added helpfully.
Her brief, hard handshake told me everything I needed to know about her. Aunt Rose hadn’t been playing around when she said Maddie and Will were cut from the same cloth, at that endless luncheon with her gossiping friends. Behind Maddie’s pretty blue eyes lay ice-cold calculation, and she hid it less well than my relatives did. If Madeleine Platt had lived with her rich family for a summer, without much money to her name, she would have done exactly what Will had insisted I must want. She would have taken every advantage.
I nodded, said “nice to meet you,” and wondered if she’d slept with my cousin.
“It’s been a while, Andie.” Will’s smile was more relaxed now, but my gaze kept moving to the shadows under his eyes. “You look great.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. “I’ll feel more great when I have a drink in me.”
“Take mine.” Will’s fingers grazed mine as he put his champagne flute in my hand. The tingling throb from his touch hadn’t changed.
Maddie was eyeing me, wondering why I was still here. Forget Will and Maddie being cut from the same cloth; the cool assessing look on this girl’s face was my aunt all over again. She and Will were definitely an attractive couple. As Rose had said, they’d go far together. Unless someone threw them both in a cage to see who’d walk out alive.
“We should get Spencer and Paxton to entertain her,” Maddie remarked to Will, as if I weren’t standing two feet away. The lazy hand she rested on his neck, rubbing it in casual possession, gave me my answer: she’d slept with my cousin. “They love redheads.”
My fingers stiffened around Will’s drink. Madeleine Platt really was an Aunt Rose in training, right down to insisting on everyone’s full names except for Will’s.
